Alexis Ohanian Sr., who is married to tennis star Serena Williams, and dad to Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., has resigned from the Reddit board, the tech company he help founded 15 years ago in honour of George Floyd.
In a blog post titled: “What Did You Do?” and published on June 5, Alexis Ohanian Sr. wrote…
“I co-founded Reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging.
It is long overdue to do the right thing. I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country.
I’m writing this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: “What did you do?”
I have resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, and I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I’m starting with a pledge of $1M to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp.
I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.”
George Floyd, was a 46-year-old black man, who was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, died in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020 in Minnesota, after Derek Chauvin, a senior white police officer, knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed face down in the street.
At Dads Are Special, our heart goes out to the Floyd’s family and the entire black community all over the world. We are all humans irrespective of race, tribe, religion, skin colour or geographical location. Black lives matter. Racism should have “no place” in our society. Let us all live as one.